Appeals court agrees with Delta that Ex-Im Bank failed to consider effect of financing on U.S. airline jobs

"Today the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a challenge by Delta Air Lines and the Air Line Pilots Association to the Export-Import Bank's issuance of loan guarantees for the sale of 30 long-range, widebody aircraft to Air India. Delta and ALPA had argued that the subsidies would have harmful effects on U.S. airlines and their employees. The federal appeals court held that, before issuing its loan guarantees to Air India, the Bank was required by its governing statute to consider the effects that the loan guarantees would have on U.S. industries and U.S. jobs.

"According to the court, the Bank failed to explain its exclusion of aircraft transactions from economic impact review. The court also rejected the Bank's attempt to suggest that it was immune from judicial review. The Bank now will be required to take the complaints of industry participants seriously before proceeding with potentially harmful subsidies to foreign airlines."

Delta, along with the Air Line Pilots Association, has raised concerns over the past several years about the impact of the Bank's lending on U.S. airlines and their employees. Export-Import financing for widebody international aircraft puts thousands of U.S. airline jobs at risk by subsidizing foreign carriers that compete directly with Delta and other U.S. airlines on key international routes.